The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-10-01
MIXED UP BY TWO TINES.
THE CONFUSION SAVANNAH'S
DOUBLE SYSTEM CAUSES,

System Aldermen Who Voted ia
Abolish Standard Time Willing to
Give it Another Trial.
There were two passengers on the steam
ship City of Augusta, which arrived from
New York yesterday morning, who were
not at all careful of the language they used
in speaking of the double tiL1e system of
Savannah. They would never have been
mistaken for divinity students by any one
who might have overheard their converse
tion. When they left the steamer they in
ouired what time it was and were told Z
O'Clock They next asked what time the
Central train left and the reply
was 7:10 O'Clock They jumped into
a carriage, offered the driver double fare to
drive his horses as fast as they could 60,
and arrived at the depot just in time, as
they thought, to catch the train. They
made break for the train, and when they
reached the step; of the coach they remarked
with a satisfied smile that 'they had to
hustle to make it but they got there all the
same"
THERE AHEAD OF TINE.
"Why we don't go for 3s minutes yet
remarked the conductor who was standing
by. The smile disappeared from their faces
and a stare succeeded They asked why,
and the conductor said that the train left on
standard time, and they had city time.
Then tine travellers turned loose They
scored the city time. and they abused stand
ard TIME, and they wanted to kick each 9th
er for paying double fare and most of all
they abused the city which they thought
was long way behind the age, Such
scenes and similar ones occur every day be-
cause of the double time system, and many
an al nj hpralSA
traSelers don't understand it.
The Southern Express Company is con
stantly annoyed. People who do not use
standard time at ALL and never think about
it, have at times packages to send off by ex-
press. They may not have them ready until
late, and noticing the city time, they think
there are but few minutes to spare They
telephone for the express wagon to come in
q hurry, and when it gets there the driver
finds that some one has mistaken city for
railroad time. and that instead of being in a
great hurry there is plenty of time to spare.
KEEPING TRACK OF THE HOURS.
Another annoyance which the express
company has to put up with is the depar-
ture of the Baltimore ships by city time.
All other lines of transportation except the
Baltimore Steamship line use standard time,
and in the express office no one ever thinks
of city time except when the Baltimore
ships are going out That neceSsitates spe-
cial attention and is sometimes a great in
convenience.
The hotel men say that they wish the city
would do away with the supeTiluous time,
for it would save a great deal of annoyance
and the answering of an enormous number
of questions. People ask what time the
trains leave, and they tell them the hour
and always add, STANDARD time That
phrase attracts attention, and strangers ask
whether there is any other time On re-
Ceiving an affirmative answer they
look at the clock and want to know
whether that is standard or city time Then
they want to know how many minutes diff
ference there are. Then whether city time
Is slower or faster than standard, and they
wind up by ASKING why the city continues
to use the two systems, and that question no
hotel clerk in town can answer There is
always an explanation of the system when
ever stranger remains l0ag enough in the
city to find out that the city has two times.
OPPOSITION TO ANY CHANGE.
There are very few people in the city who
do not wish the city time abolished. The
colored people oppose il because they have
an idea that they will start to work half an
hour sooner and do half an hours more
work every day, if standard time is adopted
Some few employers think that the men
will stop work half an hour earlier, and
they viii lose that time. Both these ideas
are erroneous, for, as has been stated before,
the men will work the same length of time
they do now, but the arbitrary hour Of start
ing and stopping viii he changed Between
them the useless city time was re-adopted
and used after it was once
done away with One employer who
opposes the abolition of city time is II. p
Smart Esq, President of the Vale Royal
Manufacturing Company. He says that if
Savannah was on the same meridian as
{ pIf no
Objectionable. There are cities, however,
where the difference between standard time
and their old time was greater than in Sa-
vannah. yet they Use standard time and
there is no trouble about it
WHAT THE ALDERMEN SAY ABOUT IT,
Alderman Thomas, who was in the COun-
Gil when the experiment was tried, said that
he thought standard time would have been
issued altogether if it had been given a fair
trial He does not think that the test was
long enough, and he believed that if the
Council had waited three or four weeks
more that it would never have changed
back to city time. When standard
time was adopted he had fifteen men at
work on the wharveS, and he had no trouble
In working them. He simply told them to
Set their clocks back thirty minutes and
rome to work at $50 instead of Z o'clock,
and they would stop work at $50 in
fusion or trouble, although he
made the change without previously
lnstructing the men in time systems He
voted for the standard time. He had for
gotten yesterday whether he voted for or
against the return to the city time, but
when the Council determined upon the
change back it ordered the clocks set by city
time at II O'Clock one day At II O'Clock
that morning the Council was called together
10 consider some special matters, and the
time question was brought up.
IN FAVOR OF ONE TIME
Mr. Thomas then said that if the vote was
hken before II o'clock he would be in favor
Of standard time, but if tine vote came after |
II he would vote for city time for the rea-
son that he did not approve of too mauv |
changes. He is in favor of adopting stan
ssrd time again if the maioritY in the |
Council is sufficiently large to insure fair
;est, but he will not vote for it
1 the standard time has a majority
ef only one or two and there is a pos
utility of city time being voted back when /
EVER the advocates of it in the Council may /
have majority present He believes |
t best TO adopt the simplest system in all
Eases. He thinks that il the matter is |
brought up in the Council that standard |
lime will be adopted.
Alderman Wells was the one who advoca-
;ed the return TO city time because he had |
he idea that it affected the hours of work |